The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request for the urgent listing of a plea seeking the arrest of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Sharma has been widely criticized for the statement she made against Prophet Muhammad on a TV debate.
Advocate Abu Sohel, the petitioner, argued before the vacation bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice JK Maheshwari that the police is not taking any action in this direction and hence sought the arrest of Nupur Sharma. The bench asked the petitioner to approach the Registrar for the mentioning of the case at which the advocate said it has been listed for July 11, the day the Apex Court opens after the vacation.
The Apex Court had recently dismissed Nupur Sharma’s petition to club all the FIRs against her and move it to Delhi. The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Surya Kant had come down strongly upon Sharma for being single-handedly responsible for causing disorder in the country through her remarks.
Several letter petitions have been put out in support of Sharma seeking the judge who made the comments to withdraw them. Some others have taken offence to people criticising the Apex Court’s observations during the hearing of the case, calling it tantamount to contempt of court.
It is to be noted, however, that the order circulated after the controversial Nupur Sharma hearing doesn’t have the observations made orally and notes the plea has been dismissed as withdrawn.